Retribution/Techmarine/Strategy
Overview The Techmarine is the only all-ranged commander the Space Marines have, as well as the only Space Marine hero without a starting energy-activated ability. His only free ability is to repair buildings and vehicles, and his other two abilities both cost 200 req, 30 power, and 5 population (the 30 energy cost can delay teching to tier 2 early on if used incorrectly). Because of this, early in the game he is little more than a glorified Tactical Marine squad. However, later in the game he is the hero that best synergizes with vehicles, as well as the hero most suited to destroying enemy vehicles. In T1; Techmarine players are looking different things than the other 2 hero players. Popular opening is 2 Tactical Marines and maybe a Devastator. Instead of 2 Tac., maybe 2 scouts maybe a good option for repair support. You will fight in ranged so you won't need Assault Marines or Librarian. In T2; Techmarine players likes to have a Dreadnought or a Razorback. Still, if we think you will need a brute force in big battles, a Dreadnought is a perfect choice. If you have too much req. and you want to spend it, buy a Plasma Cannon and put behind of a victory point with a distance to defend it. In T3; you would like to have a Verenable Dreadnought instead of Terminators. Because you can repair it. But, if you already have a Dreadnought, the choice belongs to you. Best idea, buying a Predator for insane anti-vehicle option. Starting Abilities Repair A pretty straightforward ability, it just heals allied vehicles or buildings at a rate of 10 HP per second. The main advantage of this is that it allows you to use your Scouts to cap points after battles instead of having to baby-sit vehicles while preparing for the next engagement. His armour type and HP also allow him to better survive repairing something in the middle of combat (if such a need should arise for some reason). Teleporter Relay Beacon Builds what is essentially a stationary Razorback for 1/2 the cost (in power anyway) with 2.5 times the hit points, available in Tier 1. Since you can order your units to retreat to it (or not to if the beacon's position is overrun) you can use it to return to the field faster after being forced to retreat. The usefulness of this structure is highly situational though on the size and layout of the map, and the 30 power it costs is pretty hefty in the early game. Tarantula Turret Deals 147.88% the damage of a Devestator Marine squad at a reduced cost (200 req and 30 power as opposed to 250 req and 30 power). However, as the Tarantula Turret is immovable after placement, if proper placement cannot be achieved then not placing a turret at all is the best move. Turrets are best placed at important choke points, positioned so that they will be extremely difficult (if not impossible!) to flank. A common mistake among low to mid-skill players is to place their turrets at their own generator farms or the VP close to their base (where prolonged fighting is highly unlikely). Turrets are best used as an area-denial tool, in places your opponent is likely to be. Examples would be covering your opponents generator farm (if possible) to delay their teching or to secure a contested victory point. However, as stated earlier, placing them in hard to flank positions is key. Thus, on some maps, turrets are more of a liability than an asset. Proper turret placement can be an important tool to use on your way to victory, but improper placement causes nothing but wasted resources on your part and might even lose you the game. If you are unsure whether or not you should place a turret, the answer is almost always no. The Techmarine's starting abilities seem a little lackluster as they're highly situational. However, his starting gun has 35 DPS (giving him more starting ranged DPS than most heroes) and the abilities from his wargear are quite powerful. Weapons Master-Crafted Bolter The Techmarine's only weapon available in tier 1, it offers a minor DPS increase over the standard bolter (108.34%), and the "High-Powered Shot" ability which fires the equivalent of a sniper's bullet at a target for 60 energy on a 50-second cooldown. Best used against races that sport mostly infantry units, the ability almost always guarantees a model loss and can neutralize a squad for several seconds. It definitely gives the Techmarine an edge in attrition. Consecrated Bolter This weapon has the same DPS as the Master-Crafted Bolter, with the only differences being when it is available (tier 2, like the rest of the TM's weapons) and the ability. The Techmarine's DPS, as well as all allies within a radius of 10, benefit from +25% ranged damage when using the "Brothers in Arms" ability, which costs 10 energy to activate and drains 3 energy every second thereafter. The bonus is undeniably powerful, but hard to take advantage of because of the small range. Clumping too many units together in order to maximize the DPS gain from the ability leaves you highly vulnerable to artillery strikes. Additionally it makes using abilities from his other wargear more difficult. Overall, I believe that in most cases the bleed potential from the Master-Crafted Bolter in tier 1 outweights the bonus of the Consecrated Bolter, especially if you focus on vehicles after reaching tier 2. Plasma Gun By far my favourite weapon of the Techmarine, it offers a 237.05% DPS increase against Heavy Infantry and a 529.41% DPS increase against Super Heavy Infantry. The "Plasma Overcharge" ability granted by this piece of wargear can deals absolutely massive damage to Heavy or Super Heavy Infantry* making him deadly to unsuspecting squads. The main downside to the weapon is that it is a significant DPS drop against infantry units (only dealing 59.29% of the DPS of the default bolter to those targets). *: 10 seconds with 1 shot every .65 seconds allows for 16 shots (as the first shot is fired at t=0). At 45 damage per shot, multiplied by the heavy infantry modifier of 150% and at 80% accuracy, the ability does on average 864 damage to the proper target, or 86.4 DPS. With Signum Armour and a few levels this quickly gets up to insane levels. Melta Gun The Techmarine's anti-vehicle weapon, it is also his only piece of wargear that does not come with an ability. While it is an anit-everything weapon, it doesn't make an amazing dps to vehicles. Still, it is very cheap to buy if we think about other anit-vehicle weapons. Its close range can be sinergized bu using a Dreadnought. If it will need repair in battle, Techmarine will be at there to do it and help it to stay alive. Armour Artificer Armour The Techmarine's tankiest armour, granting both 200 extra HP and +3.5 HP/sec, as well as proximity mines. Providing the Techmarine the best defense against ranged weaponry. The mines should be placed smartly but not as smart as placeing a turrent. They can be placed near of a vectory point or a req. point. When the enemy unit try to cap it, it will step on it. But one mine won't be enough to stop the capping. Enemy can come from a different direction so place a few mines around a point. To protect you turrent from melee attacks, they can be useful. Bionics The anti-melee armour, as the armour gives you the loyalist version of "Kill the Weak", dealing higher damage (45 as opposed to 20), but without the healing effect. "Powerful Sweep" provides another line of defense against melee-heavy builds, especially in the early game. Since the TM has very high ranged DPS, avoiding being tied up in melee is a must. Having a GTFO button is a very nice to do it. The extra 150 HP is also a nice benefit. Signum Armour The Techmarine's only offensive-oriented armour, it only grants an extra 50 HP, but makes up for it by granting an extra 10% damage on all of your weapons passively, and granting the immesely powerful "Mark Target" ability which causes an enemy to take an extra 50% damage from all sources. When used on an enemy commander or other powerful unit, focus fire will bring the offending unit down in seconds. Using this armour generally means you don't want to be the focus of a lot of fire, so it doesn't work well with the Melta Gun. this thing should be used in late games to take down big units causes problems. Accessories Orbs of the Omnissiah The only complete vehicle stun in the entire game, it also works well against heroes in a bubble and Eldar energy shields. Aiming takes a little bit of getting used to though, but once you have it down it works even better than Eldar Haywire grenades. But you must becarefull. It doesn't stick to a vehicle like a Melta Bomb. It is an area effect bomb. If there is a Dreadnought that you are using where you throw the bomb, they will stun eather, which sucks. Refractor Field Possibly the best bubble in the game. In addition to the standard 5 damage = 1 energy conversion that most bubbles have, this one also reduces the accuracy of shots fired at him by an additional 20%. The major drawback of using this item is the loss of the Orbs, however. Globals Blessing of the Omnissiah Repairs vehicles 1.75% of their HP every second for 20 seconds (totally 35% by the end). Using it in combat can keep your vehicles alive much longer, so that you might be ruination to the enemies of the Emperor. Venerable Dreadnought Drop Pod A more powerful dreadnought that can be dropped directly onto the enemy, and has the further benefit of being cheaper than Terminators (by 50 in req, power, and red). It cannot be upgraded with ranged weapons, but the charge it has allows it to quickly close in on a ranged anti-vehicle unit, and its superior health allows it to survive a lot of punishment. When it reaches the level 4, it will have more than 2200 hp of vehicle armor and more dps than and walker in game. It can go head to head with a Swarmlord! Also, should it die, you can still use it to lay to rest your enemies. Another little secret of it is that the repair bunker of the allied IG force can repair the ven dread even after it enters stoicism(that ability it automatically activates before it is destroyed), just make sure that you ask your IG ally to plop a repair bunker and your dread can get there in 10s! Category:Retribution multiplayer unit subpages